Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Make a matched gift and support Jewish journalism. DONATE NOW
Food

Best Jewish Sandwich — Readers’ Choice

In last week’s food section, we gave you 10 amazing Jewish sandwiches from across the country, which in true “top list” fashion sparked some debate over which sandwiches were really the best and which were missing from the list. Luckily, a tidy little poll let readers kvetch constructively by voting for their favorite (with a write-in option). With over 600 votes, favorites were all across the board — and world.

Unsurprisingly, the winner by a landslide (with almost 1/3 of the votes) was the classic Katz’s pastrami. Trailing not terribly far behind Katz’s was the West coast trifecta, Deli Board’s Gold-n-Berg-n-stein (and if you ask us, this one wins the award for best name). The pastrami sandwich at Langer’s was a clear third, and Famous 4th Street Deli’s Bagel with Nova and Cream Cheese, Mile End’s Smoked Meat Sandwich, and Taim’s Sabich garnered enough votes for honorable mentions. As for Shelsky’s Brookyln Transplant, Schnitz NYC’s Bamberg Schnitz, The Bagel’s corned beef sandwich, and Zaidy’s latke reuben — more readers clearly need to try those!

About 100 readers cast their vote for a sandwich that wasn’t on our list. Out of more than 50 additional sandwiches, popular write-ins were the pastrami sandwich at the 2nd Avenue Deli, Brent’s corned beef sandwich in Los Angeles, and a variety of Zingerman’s sandwiches, in Ann Arbor. Though Montreal’s Schwartz’s smoked meat sandwich wasn’t in the running for our list, as it’s not in the U.S., it received much recognition in the write-ins. And even further away, L’as du Falafel in Paris has won the heart of one voter.

With our 10, and the more than 50 write-ins, the votes don’t lie: a yummy Jewish sandwich, it seems, isn’t difficult to find.

This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.

We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news. All donations are still being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000 until April 24.

This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.

With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.

The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:

  • Credit the Forward
  • Retain our pixel
  • Preserve our canonical link in Google search
  • Add a noindex tag in Google search

See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.